Fight Facts: UFC 262
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Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and Octagon oddities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.
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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 6,119
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 563
The
Ultimate Fighting Championship soldiered on in the lightweight
division, in search of a new champion. One came at the end of
UFC 262, when a longtime vet finally clawed his way to gold.
This event featured the new all-time UFC finish leader, a rare
triangle armbar and a submission so nasty you could hear the bone
break on the air.
More Than Technicalities: Andre Muniz and Christos Giagos both performed technical submissions against Ronaldo Souza and Sean Soriano at UFC 262, respectively. This card is the ninth in promotional history to see multiple fights require referee intervention due to submissions without taps.
Who’s Top Cop Now? Charles Oliveira put Michael Chandler away in the second round to earn his 17th stoppage as a UFC fighter. He now stands alone with the most finishes in company history.
And He Is Just 31: It took Oliveira 28 UFC fights to finally earn his first title shot, and he capitalized by knocking Chandler out. By merely getting the opportunity, Oliveira set the record for the most fights inside the Octagon before fighting for a belt. Michael Bisping held that previous top spot, with his championship try coming in his 26th bout.
Bronx Burns: “Do Bronx” joined the UFC in August 2010, debuting against Darren Elkins. At that time, 13 of the other 23 fighters on this card had yet to make their pro MMA debuts.
Para Progresso: Now the 11th man to hold the undisputed lightweight strap, Oliveira is the second Brazilian to achieve that feat. Rafael dos Anjos was the first, taking home the belt at UFC 185 in 2015.
Slick Subs and Heavy Hands, Dangerous Combo: The knockout of Chandler elevated the new Brazilian champ’s career finish rate to a stellar 90 percent. Oliveira, who also holds the record for the most submissions in UFC history, has knocked his foe out in three of his last five outings.
Thanks Tony: In addition to the knockout, Oliveira pocketed $75k in a boosted “Performance of the Night” bonus for putting Chandler away. Like his stoppage total, “Do Bronx” has scored 17 post-fight bonuses, and trails only Donald Cerrone (18) for the most for any one fighter.
Don’t Go Back to Featherweight: Since moving back up to lightweight in 2017, Oliveira has won 10 fights while dropping one. Along the way, Oliveira has notched a whopping eight post-fight bonuses, with an award for all but one of his finishes in that stretch. His 2019 knockout of Nik Lentz did not earn him bonus money that night.
Snapped Jitsu: Former interim lightweight champ Tony Ferguson once put together a 12-fight win streak in the division, and he has since lost three straight following his decision setback to Beneil Dariush. He is the second fighter in UFC history to post a win streak of 12 or more and later lose three consecutive bouts – the first is Anderson Silva, who dropped fights to Israel Adesanya, Jared Cannonier and Uriah Hall.
Houston Judging Strikes Again: The decision win for Katlyn Chookagian was her seventh victory as a flyweight, tying champ and former foe Valentina Shevchenko for the most in the division’s relatively brief history.
Blonde Point Fighter: Chookagian has still never finished an adversary under the UFC banner, with each of those seven wins coming at the hands of the judges. “Blonde Fighter” now sees her career stoppage rate fall to 19 percent.
Delayed, Delayed Reaction: In stunning fashion, Edson Barboza knocked Shane Burgos out with a right hand and follow-up punches. The knockout was Barboza’s eighth on the roster, and only Max Holloway (nine) and Donald Cerrone (10) have scored more as fighters that have competed at 155 pounds or below.
An Accumulation of Damage: Four of Barboza’s eight UFC knockouts have taken place in the third round, tied for the third-most in company history with Holloway. Randy Couture has knocked five opponents out in Round 3, while Yoel Romero did this six times.
He Out Jacared Jacare: “Jacare” suffered his first-ever submission loss in MMA when Muniz broke his arm with an armbar in the first round. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist had landed 14 submissions of his own through his nearly 18-year career.
A Long-Forgotten Move: “Sergipano” lifted his career finish rate to 86 percent, and submission rate to 67 percent, when he finished Souza. Both of Muniz’s UFC wins have come by armbar, making the Brazilian already one of only 18 fighters across UFC history to land more than one of these moves.
Tim Sylvia Remembers: The finish was a technical submission due to Muniz’ armbar, likely badly damaging Souza’s arm in the process. Muniz is the sixth fighter in organizational history to force a referee to intervene without a tap due to an armbar, and the first since Erik Perez over John Albert in 2012.
Beverly Hills Ninja Stuff: Jordan Wright kept his 100% finish rate intact by flooring Jamie Pickett with elbows and punches. Including this performance, nine of his 12 career triumphs have come within the two-minute mark, and all but one in the first round.
KGB Angles: Pulling off a rare triangle armbar on Antonina Shevchenko, Andrea Lee performed the third maneuver of this type in UFC women’s divisional history – she joins Joanne Calderwood and Amanda Nunes. “KGB” is the 16th fighter, regardless of gender, to hit one across all UFC bouts.
Happy Birthday to Us: Cachoeira and Mazany , who faced off on the prelims, share a birthday, including the year. It is the fourth time in UFC history that this has happened, per MMADecisions, and the first among female fighters. At UFC 11, Tank Abbott faced Sam Adkins and Scott Ferrozzo that night, and all three men were born on the same day. This also occurred at UFC Fight Night 58 in 2014 between Elkins and Hacran Dias.
Spartan Sneak Attack: Giagos is the first fighter in UFC history to ever put an opponent to sleep with a brabo choke on the card opener of an event. “The Spartan” staged a comeback by snaring Sean Soriano in the second round with this unusual choke.
Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 262, Burgos (15 fights) and Mike Grundy (14 fights) had never lost consecutive bouts, Pickett (15 fights) had never been knocked out and Shevchenko had never been finished (11 fights).
Vamos Mudar o Mundo: When Oliveira has walked out to “O Hino” by Brazilian gospel singer Fernandinho, he has won a wide majority (.737) of his recorded matches. He picked this song again against Chandler, and is now the champion.
You’re Still Rolling Stones: Dariush switched his walkout tune to “Still Rolling Stones” by Lauren Daigle before facing Thiago Moises in 2018, and he has won ever since. Using this track ahead of his match with Ferguson, Dariush now finds himself on a seven-fight win streak since changing to this song.
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